SANSON, Nicolas.
[Sanson's map of Canada with an early depiction of the Great Lakes]Le Canada, ou Nouvelle France, &c... 1656.Paris, Pierre Mariette, c.1662. Fine original colour. 405 x 545mm.A scarce map of the French possessions in North America, the first map to show Lake Erie in a recognisable form, although the western lakes are still open-ended. A North West Passage is suggested running from Butons Bay. On the St Lawrence Montreal, built by the French c.1642, appears. New York is still named 'Nouvelle Amsterdam', as it was not captured by the English until 1662. Engraved by Jan van Somer, this map was the standard for the next fifty years. First published in 1656 as a separate-issue map, this example comes from Sanson's Atlas 'Les Cartes Générales de toutes parties du Monde', first issued 1658.BURDEN: 318, second state of three, with Mariette's name but without plate number '2' added c.1667.
[Ref: 17449]
£3,500.00
($4,645 • €4,039 rates)

FRESCHOT, Casimir Don.
[An extremely rare miniature map of Arctic America](51) Estotiland in America, nella Corona d'Inghiltera. Le terre Superiori sono Inhabitate e sotto il polo.Venice: Giovanni Pare', c. 1680. Sheet 53 x 52mm. Trimmed from a large broadsheet.Don Casimir Freschot, a Benedictine Priest and author of about 50 books on history and Venice, composed a 'goose game', 'Geografia ridotta a giuoco per istruttione della giovane nobiltà veneziana', to facilitate "the teaching of geography to the young Venetian nobility", of which this map was a section. Engraved by Anton Francesco Lucini, this was probably the earliest geographical game to be published. The 'board' comprised 153 squares containing small maps, arranged in a spiral, with a plan of Venice at the centre. Above the game were four larger maps of the continents, the rules, including the prizes and forfeits for landing on squares, and a dedication. There is only one known complete example, in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice. Even incomplete examples are extremely rare."Charta Geographica" magazine, vol.1, page 76; plus insert with facsimile broadsheet.
[Ref: 11118]
£480.00
($637 • €554 rates)

MULLER, Johann Ulrich.
[Uncommon Miniature Map of the American Colonies][Canada...]Ulm, 1692. 70 x 80mm, set in text.Charming miniature map of the Great Lakes, New England, New York and Canada, with a letterpress text in German. The Great Lakes are open-ended in the west.
[Ref: 8937]
£230.00
($305 • €265 rates)

MORTIER, Pieter.
[Arctic America]Carte Particuliere de L'Amerique Septentrionale ou sont Compris Le Destroit de Davids, Le Destroit de Hudson, &c.Amsterdam, c.1705. Original colour. Two sheets conjoined, total 590 x 830mm. Very fine condition.A large chart showing from the west coast of Ireland, Iceland, Greenland and the bays of Arctic America. The abundance of English placenames is a testament to their efforts to find the North West Passage, hoping to reach the East Indies without having to pass the French and Spaniards!
Of interest are the pair of channels traversing the tip of Greenland, the upper one called 'Destroit de M. Vorbischer' (Strait of Martin Frobisher). These appear as a consequence of the Zeno hoax of 1558, which put the mythical island of Frisland on most maps of the period. Martin Frobisher (1535-94) sailed across the Atlantic in 1576 to look for the North West Passage: he landed on Greenland but thought it to be the non-existent Frisland shown on his charts. When he sailed on and touched land he thought he had arrived in Greenland when in fact he was at what is now Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. Entering the bay he believed he had discovered a strait on Greenland, and even two more voyages (1577 & 1578) did nothing to make him doubt himself. Over a century later this chart was published with his mistake still included.
Frobisher did not have much luck: he also mistook iron pyrite for gold-bearing ore and a narwhal corpse for a unicorn. Fortunately his career as an English privateer was more successful and his service during the Spanish Armada of 1588 earned him a knighthood.
This chart was published in Mortier's issue of Jaillot's 'Atlas Nouveau', although it also appeared in Mortier's 'Neptune Francois' sea-atlas.KOEMAN: Mor 1.
[Ref: 8709]
£700.00
($929 • €808 rates)

GAUDY. John.
[An early English chart of south eastern Newfoundland]A Chart Shewing Part of the Sea Coast of New Foundland From ye Bay of Bulls to little Plecentia exactly and Carefully lay'd down by John Gaudy.London: W. & J. Mount and T. Page, 1748. 445 x 560mm. Narrow top margin due to the size of the chart.A chart of the south-eastern part of Newfoundland, marking Placentia and Trepassey, with an inset detail of Trepassey Harbour. The chart was compiled by Lieutenant John Gaudy in 1716, as the British took possession of Newfoundland after the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) ended the War of the Spanish Succession, and engraved by Samuel Parker. This example was published in an edition of Mount & Page's 'The English Pilot. The Fourth Book Describing The West India Navigation... Also, a New Description of Newfoundland, New-England, New-York, East and West New Jersey, Dellevar-Bay, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina'. This was the first sea atlas of America containing charts only from English sources. Gaudy's chart remained the best chart of the area until James Cook mapped Newfoundland in the 1760s.See SHIRLEY: Maps in the Atlases of the British Library, M.M&P-5c for an edition of the following year.
[Ref: 15565]
£600.00
($796 • €692 rates)

SOUTHWOOD, Henry.
[An early English chart of the east coast of Newfoundland on two sheets]The Coast of New Found Land From Cape-Raze to Cape St-Francis. The Coast of New Found Land From Salmon Cove to Cape Bonavista.London: W. & J. Mount and T. Page, 1748. Two sheets conjoined, total 430 x 1030mm.The east coast of Newfoundland from Bonavista south to Trepassy, orientated with north to the right. Insets show St John's Harbour and Trinity Harbour. The chart was engraved by James Clark and first published in John Thornton's 'Atlas Maritimus' in 1676. This example was published in an edition of Mount & Page's 'The English Pilot. The Fourth Book Describing The West India Navigation... Also, a New Description of Newfoundland, New-England, New-York, East and West New Jersey, Dellevar-Bay, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina'. This was the first sea atlas of America containing charts only from English sources.KERSHAW: 240 & 242.
[Ref: 15528]
£900.00
($1,194 • €1,039 rates)

THORNTON, John.
[An early English chart of northern Canada with Hudson's Bay]A New and Correct Chart of the North Part of America from New Found Land to Hudson's Bay.London: W. & J. Mount and T. Page, 1748. 440 x 560mm. Repairs to top edge, affecting printed border.A chart of northern Canada, with Hudson's Bay, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. It shows the English obsession with finding the North-West Passage to the East Indies, with Hudson's Bay full of English names despite the early date. Of interest are the names of the three original Hudson's Bay Company forts, at Albany (founded 1679), Moose (here 'Mouse') River and Rupert's River. Further south the French-dominated areas around the St Lawrence are depicted only vaguely, without the Great Lakes, indicative of the blanket ban on British shipping by the French. The chart was compiled by John Thornton (1641-1708) and first published in his 'Atlas Maritimus' in 1704. This example was published in an edition of Mount & Page's 'The English Pilot. The Fourth Book Describing The West India Navigation... Also, a New Description of Newfoundland, New-England, New-York, East and West New Jersey, Dellevar-Bay, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina'. This was the first sea atlas of America containing charts only from English sources.See SHIRLEY: Maps in the Atlases of the British Library, M.M&P-5c for an edition of the following year.
[Ref: 15550]
£600.00
($796 • €692 rates)

JEFFERYS, Thomas.
[A two-sheet chart of the St Lawrence River]An Exact Chart of the River St Laurence, from Fort Frontenac to the Island of Anticosti shewing the Soundings, Rocks, Shoals &c with Views of the Lands and all necessary Instructions for navigating that River to Quebec.London: Robert Sayer, 1775. Outline colour. Two sheets conjoined, total 610 x 950mm. A few small repairs.A detailed chart of the St Lawrence, published close to the outbreak of the American Revolution. The main chart shows from Anticosti Island to Quebec, with the continuation to Lake Ontario in an inset above, and three other inset details.
[Ref: 14201]
£750.00
($995 • €866 rates)